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TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER OPPORTUNITY: Anonymous Feature Processing for Enhanced Navigation (MSC-TOPS-129)

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T2P-JSC-00073Federal

Response Deadline08/10/2027, 08:00:00 PM UTC

Contract Overview

Solicitation details, issuing organization, response deadlines, documents, and interested companies for this government contract opportunity.

AI Contract Overview

NASA is offering a technology transfer opportunity for Anonymous Feature Processing (AFP), an innovative vision-based navigation algorithm developed at NASA Johnson Space Center. This technology enables vehicles to navigate using only a simple camera or LIDAR sensor and a flight computer by identifying and tracking visual features without requiring explicit matching to pre-existing map data, eliminating error-prone and computationally expensive identification steps. The result is a more robust, efficient, and cost-effective navigation system suitable for space exploration and terrestrial applications such as autonomous vehicles, manufacturing, and imaging under low-visibility or cluttered conditions. The license rights are available on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis with potential field-of-use restrictions, but NASA provides no funding or financial support for development or commercialization. Interested parties must submit a license application through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) via the designated portal before the deadline of August 10, 2027. This opportunity is not a procurement or funding solicitation, and no follow-on contracts or obligations are expected from responses. The technology is being promoted to assess public interest and potential market viability, with inquiries directed to NASA’s Technology Transfer Program via a dedicated email address. Additional information on licensing other NASA technologies can be accessed through the NASA Technology Transfer Portal. The notice was posted under the agency’s Office of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with the primary point of contact located in Huntsville, Alabama.

General Info

NASA offers license for AFP vision-based navigation tech with no funding, deadline August 10, 2027.

Agency

National Aeronautics And Space Administration → NASA Marshall Space Flight CenterView Agency

NAICS

927110 - Space Research and TechnologyView NAICS

Place of Performance

Set-Aside

NONE

Documents

(0)

No documents available

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Timeline

PostedAug 10

special-notice

Response DeadlineAug 10

Submission deadline

Response Deadline

08/10/2027, 08:00:00 PM UTCin 11 months

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Organization & Contact Information

AgencyNational Aeronautics And Space Administration → NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Contacts1 person available

OfficeHUNTSVILLE, AL, 35812, USA

Organization / Agency

National Aeronautics And Space Administration → NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

View Agency Profile

Office AddressHUNTSVILLE, AL, 35812, USA

Contacts

NASA’s Technology Transfer Program

contact@example.gov

Full Description

NASA’s Technology Transfer Program solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses.

THE TECHNOLOGY:

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed an innovative algorithmic and computational approach to vision-based feature recognition called Anonymous Feature Processing (AFP). The ‘anonymous’ approach allows feature-based navigation techniques to be performed without the need for explicit correspondence/identification between visual system observations and cataloged map data, thus helping to eliminate costs and risks induced by identification procedures. By eliminating the error-prone and computationally burdensome identification and detection steps, AFP is designed to yield marked improvements in system robustness along with reducing algorithmic and software development costs. This novel method only requires a simple camera, or LIDAR sensor, and flight computer to track multiple targets and navigate vehicles more quickly, reliably, and safely. The AFP approach is adaptable to a wide range of sensor types and platforms, capable of supporting challenging space exploration and terrestrial navigation systems with low visibility conditions or with cluttered surroundings. A new technique such as AFP that eliminates preprocessing while adding system robustness could have commercial applications in autonomous vehicles, manufacturing, and research-based imaging.

To express interest in this opportunity, please submit a license application through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by visiting https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/MSC-TOPS-129

If you have any questions, please e-mail NASA’s Technology Transfer Program at Agency-Patent-Licensing@mail.nasa.gov with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this SAM.gov notice and your preferred contact information. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at https://technology.nasa.gov/

These responses are provided to members of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.